Ranchmanben Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 3 hours ago, Judson Yaggy said: Mostly boring fab work this week but it pays the bills. Did have time today for a run of tongs, an array of various sized handles, and when my son got home from school we started on a new x pein hammer for him. Tongs start as 5" of 5/8" round. One heat (per piece) under the power hammer to rough the jaw and boss, one heat with hand hammer and anvil to refine the shape, third heat under the fly press to add a v-grove to the jaws, and a final heat to draw the reins. Pictured took me 1 hour 10 min. That's awesome work. It really gives me perspective about how much work you can get done with a power hammer, I'm specifically talking about drawing out the reins. I could probably get 2 maybe 3 reins drawn out in the time it took you to get 7 pairs of tongs to that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gergely Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 It's not just the PH. It does speed up the work, of course. But we're talking about 56 heats in 70 minutes. You need a good gas forge for that. But even that's not enough. You have to organize and set up work prosseses so precisely to do that amount of work so fast - and that makes the professional blacksmith! I can only admire that level, and wish I could ever reach half of that effectiveness. Thank you Judson for sharing! Please keep them coming! Bests: Gergely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judson Yaggy Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 8 hours ago, Gergely said: You need a good gas forge for that. But even that's not enough. So true. For a run like this I have 7 or 8 pieces in the fire at once. Every piece is at a high yellow heat when it comes out, and I hit it HARD and FAST for the first 4 or 5 blows to best use the softest part of the cycle, no stopping to think. Clean-up and refinement can come at slightly lower heats. But the real trick to production like this is practice, practice, practice. Make a few hundred of something (or better yet a few thousand) and you will be able to do it at a high rate without thinking. The owner of the first professional shop I worked in 25 years ago had me forge 10 practice tapers in 1/4" square stock at the beginning of every hour all day for the first 2 weeks. At the end of the 2 weeks I'd forged 800 tapers and they looked like they could have been made on a machine! Practice! Of course then I got to bend them all into s-hooks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted May 7, 2017 Author Share Posted May 7, 2017 Some stakes for my shop doors that go into the ground to keep the doors from flopping open and closed. Littleblacksmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 Finished the cross peen hammer I started with Latticino and skyforgemetalworks: Cleaned up my little corner of the garage: Finished my third pair of tongs: Made a new towel hook: Stared down a pitbull who did NOT want me to go blacksmith: (Not shown: made the steel part of a whimsical sculpture I'm making for Lisa's birthday and mixed up a batch of beeswax and graphite punch lube.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranchmanben Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 Those tongs and hammer look great. It's tough to get an idea from the pictures, what's the hammer weigh in at? It looks pretty substantial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 4 minutes ago, Ranchmanben said: Those tongs and hammer look great. It's tough to get an idea from the pictures, what's the hammer weigh in at? It looks pretty substantial. It's about 3-3.5 lbs total, give or take. I did all today's forging with it, and it is a sweet little hammer. Great control, and the balance is terrific. The tongs, on the other hand, aren't that great. What you DON'T see is the boss on the other side that burned while I was punching the hole in the boss that you do see. I went ahead and finished them anyway (and messed up the riveting), and we'll see how long they last. It was a good experience, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-1ToolSteel Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 Love the hammer, JHCC. Y'all did a great job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranchmanben Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 9 minutes ago, JHCC said: The tongs, on the other hand, aren't that great. What you DON'T see is the boss on the other side that burned while I was punching the hole in the boss that you do see. I went ahead and finished them anyway (and messed up the riveting), and we'll see how long they last. It was a good experience, anyway. That's great on the hammer! I known exactly how it goes on the tongs I cooked the end of one of my reins a little too long on a pair I was working on yesterday. Here's a pair I was working on a while back and it got away from me as I was explaining what I was doing to a guy who wanted to learn how to make tongs. I was pretty embarrassed since I just done the fastest and cleanest forge welds I'd ever done on the reins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 1 minute ago, C-1ToolSteel said: Love the hammer, JHCC. Y'all did a great job. All the credit goes to Andrew (skyforgemetalworks), who showed me and Dan (Latticino) what to do and explained why to do it. My only contribution to the design was the stepped taper on the peen, which I thought would look cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryson489 Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 Made my first tripod. Needs a little adjusting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 Neat tripod Bryson. I'd like to see a close up of the twists. Good idea to punch the feet so they can be pinned down. (Nice safety feature) I had a bit of time after today's demos so made this Frederick's cross from an old (really old) wrought iron rail spike. I don't like using wrought, but I do like the texture and lustre it has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 8 hours ago, littleblacksmith said: Some stakes for my shop doors that go into the ground to keep the doors from flopping open and closed. Littleblacksmith Nice clean metalwork. But I am concerned about the proximity of spikes and sharp edges close to an area where you are are putting some energy into pushing the stakes into the ground...it looks a bit like an accident waiting to happen. It would be much safer if you added another block of wood behind the sharp bits. Take care until you do. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted May 7, 2017 Author Share Posted May 7, 2017 3 hours ago, Alan Evans said: Nice clean metalwork. But I am concerned about the proximity of spikes and sharp edges close to an area where you are are putting some energy into pushing the stakes into the ground...it looks a bit like an accident waiting to happen. It would be much safer if you added another block of wood behind the sharp bits. Take care until you do. Alan wow, I didn't even notice that! thank you very much! I'll fix it. Littleblacksmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 10 hours ago, Ranchmanben said: I cooked the end of one of my reins a little too long on a pair I was working on yesterday. Here's the bad side of the joint. Newbies, learn from my mistakes! Pay attention to what's going on in the fire! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted May 7, 2017 Share Posted May 7, 2017 A bit of whimsy: knitting maille on circular needles. (Made from garage door spring and copper electrical wire.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rthibeau Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 made a set of campfire tongs and a forge fire rake. Handle of forge rake is a jeremy k wizard head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranchmanben Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 Nothing too exciting. Built some stands for rifle targets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 9 minutes ago, Ranchmanben said: Nothing too exciting. Built some stands for rifle targets. What are the gongs made of? Hardox? Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranchmanben Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 Ar500 steel, not sure what that actually is other than some sort of hardened steel. I'm waiting on the "heads" which will be 10" circles of the same steel. Before anyone asks, I very sincerely don't want to shoot anybody. This style just happens to be a good target and gives you a couple of different target sizes on the same stand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsoldat Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 interesting rifle targets. be sure to post the final finished product. have a buddy that wants to play with gongs. always curious to see whats out there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranchmanben Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 1 minute ago, Dogsoldat said: interesting rifle targets. be sure to post the final finished product. have a buddy that wants to play with gongs. always curious to see whats out there Thanks. I'll not sure if I can link it here so I'll send you a link of the targets these are based on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EJRailRoadTrack Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 Forged my first hammer today! It's weighs a little over 2.5 pounds! It went great and turned out well if I do say so myself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted May 10, 2017 Author Share Posted May 10, 2017 Nice looking hammer! Littleblacksmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkie Posted May 11, 2017 Share Posted May 11, 2017 Very nice job, Elijah!! Put that puppy to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.